20/02/2026
2 Mile Hill: Beyond the label, there are future at stake!
The recent eviction at 2 Mile Hill have once again placed this community in the public spotlight but for the wrong reasons.
Too often, 2 Mile Hill is labelled as “notorious” or “dangerous.”
But behind those labels are families.
Behind those headlines are children.
And within those children are dreams, potential, and futures that matter.
Under Life PNG Care’s Strongim Pikinini Education Program (SPEP), we have been supporting vulnerable children and youths from 2 Mile Hill for 17 years now. These are not statistics; they are real young Papua New Guineans striving for a better life. There are examples of our kids within this location who have made it into higher learning institutions.
1. One of them is Erise Tuai, who lives at 2 Mile Hill with his family. They are displaced now. In 2022, he proudly graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting at UPNG. His story proves that there are potentials live in 2 Mile Hills, location does not determine destiny. Today he is the sole bread winner of his big family.
2. Young Joe Aire, who completed Grade 12 in 2025 and has now left for Kokopo Business College to pursue further studies this year. It was his first time to fly out and going into another province. While Joe begins this new chapter, his small family has been affected by the recent eviction and is now facing homelessness.
3. There are many others, children still in primary and secondary school whose education has been disrupted. Some have unfortunately left school this year because of the eviction. Their learning, stability, and emotional wellbeing have been deeply affected.
So, before such eviction decisions are made, they should consider the welfare of the children, especially girls, boys and mothers?
Who speaks for the children in this kind of situation? Who’s responsible for their lives, if they leave school and forced into the streets? This is adding stats into the problems we already have on the streets and neglecting basic rights for our children, especially children to go to school.
Not every child in 2 Mile Hill is on the streets. Many are in school and this eviction is making their lives difficult now. Many of these children are brought into the city by their parents in search of better education and health services.
And such eviction without proper transition planning does not just remove structures, it disrupts lives.
It interrupts education.
It increases vulnerability.
It risks creating the very social problems we are trying to prevent.
At Life PNG Care, we have identified and supported vulnerable children and youths in 2 Mile Hill because we believe in their potential. We see their dreams.
2 Mile Hill must not be defined by stigma.
It must be remembered for the resilience of its children.
We respectfully appeal to our government, policy makers, and relevant stakeholders:
• Let us approach settlement issues with humanity and foresight.
• Let us consider structured resettlement plans that protect children's education.
• Let us ensure that no child loses access to schooling because of such action.
• Let us uphold the equal rights and dignity of every Papua New Guinean child.
A generation is watching how we respond.
If we truly believe in developing Papua New Guinea, then we must protect the future of its children, wherever they live.
Life PNG Care remains committed to supporting these young lives under the Strongim Pikinini Education Program. But we cannot do it alone.
Let us not label them, let us lift them. Because within 2 Mile Hill lives future accountants, teachers, nurses, business leaders and perhaps even future national leaders.
Their future matters.
